Georgia Targets Free 'Obama Phones'

Georgia has become the first state to try to curtail a federal program that hands out free cellphones to low-income people. Gautham Nagesh reports on the News Hub.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... the the ... Milne was three thousand This allowing some families enjoy Jack was as it's the cellphone service for free thanks to a federally subsidized program ... the charge was the first state to start charging ... on January thirty first read this blog to fork over five dollars ... thousand against joins us from Washington with more I doubt ... I ... so why is this ugly this place to start charging for a disturbance ... well this program the lifeline program has become increasingly controversial in recent years because ... first of all spending on his in ... nearly tripled ... since two thousand ate ... and there is the real questions about whether the state can actually start charging for this program I ... there is questions ... it will likely be decided in court that made the commissioner who came up with the rule argues that states are allowed to charge a nominal fee for the administration of program ... that is illegal grounding to this rule to whether or not that will satisfy defenders of the program remains the scene ... and this is an issue that has been politicized is the report said that these free Obama balance that ... how many people actually using this program and what are people actually get because it's not an actual itself that way ... it is actually an actual cell phone the way it works is that the Universal Service Fund has what used to be known as the low income portion ... is shared phone service to households that couldn't or nearly ... forty and that was lame line starting in two thousand five ... AB BC into the program to improve wireless phones in the wake of Hurricane Katrina ... with all of the displaced individuals from the Gulf region ... since then we seen a number of individuals getting wireless access under the program has increased basically carriers give people a free phone ... and then be USF subsidized service to the tune of nine dollars and twenty five cents a month ... well they found a site franchising this side Ally said there I their efforts to crack down on people who might be using this program ... absolutely the Federal Communications Commission has been working aggressively to reduce people receiving more than one phone or carriers getting out ... duplicative countered the people more knowledgeable so this is an ongoing effort in both the federal and state level upper George is the first state to take an action like this ... I interesting starring Catherine thanks for being with us ... thanks for having ...